Aphrodisiacs

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that there is no such thing as a safe and effective over-the-counter aphrodisiac and proposed a ban on the marketing of non-prescription drugs that claim to arouse sexual desire. The FDA issued a formal notice that it is tentatively adopting the conclusions of an advisory board that has been studying the drugs, a preparatory step to issuing a regulation banning them.

Tricia Alley knows how to make a cocktail sing. She forged the nuanced cocktail program at chef Mark Gold's restaurant Eva and is working with pro cocktail consultant Ryan Magarian to create craft cocktails for Hollywood's new Rolling Stone restaurant. For Valentine's Day, Alley recommends mixing up a drink that will make your date swoon. It's called Aphrodite and it's a soulful mix of ingredients that conjure thoughts of love. Rose wine scented with rosewater, rosemary and orange peel, as well as strawberries and silky honey syrup urge you to slip into something more comfortable ?

Those who think flowers and chocolate are insufficient for their sweetie on Valentine's Day might try something a little more worldly -- like a rhinoceros tusk or poisonous fish. Consider the protein-packed Turkish "sultan's paste" or the "bring me love" bubble baths and essential oils sold at Latin American botanicas; almost every culture boasts its own kind of aphrodisiac. "You name it, someone has come up with something they hope is an aphrodisiac, because if you come up with the right formula, you win so big -- you get the girl, or get the boy," said Susan Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University and the author of several books on love, chemistry and relationships.

Love is in the air. Could a rhinoceros horn be why? So what if it's just a lump of matted old hair. According to some romantics, horn of rhino is the ultimate turn-on. Well, next to bear gall bladders, that is. And certain toad venoms and turtle eggs and . . . The list of legendary aphrodisiacs goes on and on--or it did until the Food and Drug Administration got ahold of it and said that there's no scientific proof that any of them work.

Chinese customs officials today announced heavy new fines of up to $17,600 for anyone caught smuggling pornographic material into the country. The China Legal Systems newspaper said fines ranging from $35 to $17,600 will be imposed on anyone attempting to import sexually explicit videotapes, books, drawings or photographs, sexual aids or "licentious medicines," aphrodisiacs.

You say your hair is falling out? Stand on your head and rub your stomach three times. You say your problem is sexual? How about putting a new, copper penny under your pillow every night. If that sounds ridiculous, more than a few Americans waste a lot of time and money on so-called cures for baldness and aphrodisiacs that have about the same chance of success, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

The federal Food and Drug Administration is warning that a supposed aphrodisiac distributed by a Sherman Oaks company is suspected of having caused the seizures that stopped the heart of a Virginia man. The capsules, which come in a box labeled "Spanish Fly Pills, Legendary Sex Exciter," are distributed by a company listed on the box as Pleasure Products. The address given is a post office box in Sherman Oaks.

Some people will do anything to impress a date. Consider: He who boils asparagus, and then fries them in fat, and then pours upon them the yolks of eggs with pounded condiments, and eats every day of this dish, will . . . find in it a stimulant for his amorous desires." --Sheik Nefzawi, "The Perfumed Garden for the Soul's Delectation" Dry, steep and stew in sauce the kidneys of an eagle. Then mix them with drink or meat.

February 21, 1993 | ART LEVINE, Art Levine is a contributing editor of Spy and the Washington
Monthly.

DO YOU WANT TO ATTRACT women and drive them wild?" The direct-mail letter had appeared in my mailbox, and I was intrigued. As a single guy, I could always use a little help with my love life. I read on. Underneath the bold lettering for "ATTRACTANT 10," the product being touted, was the word "PHEROMONE" and a drawing of two cat-like female eyes staring at me, promising a sure route to sexual success.

May 23, 2006 | J.D. Smith, J.D. SMITH'S second collection of poetry is "Settling for Beauty."

FOR YEARS NOW, preservationists have been pleading and preaching in a failed attempt to get humans to stop slaughtering exotic and increasingly rare animals whose organs are believed to increase sexual potency. But it hasn't worked. Poachers risk bullets, handcuffs and steep fines for the profits from rhinoceros horns, tiger penises or the eggs of endangered sea turtles, all wrongly believed to enhance male sexual performance or desire. It's time for a new approach.

Naming a new car model is never easy. Automakers invest millions in what are essentially metaphors and, despite all the vetting by linguists and focus groups, these loose cannons of language often have severe blow-back. In 2003, for example, General Motors learned -- only after naming its new high-volume mid-size Buick LaCrosse -- that in Canada "lacrosse" is slang for sexual solitaire. Oh, too bad, eh?

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach," goes the old saw, which I believe I first heard Wilma tell Betty on an episode of "The Flintstones." Not exactly a paradigm for romance, but there is truth in cartoon shows. And I've done enough cooking for women to tell you it works both ways. Of course, we all know it's not necessarily the literal heart of the matter we want to get to. Happy Valentine's Day, darling. Me, Tarzan. You, Jane. Now what's for dinner? Aphrodisiac cooking, anyone?

June 27, 2004 | Steven E. Rhoads, Steven E. Rhoads, a professor of politics at the University of Virginia, is the author of "Taking Sex Differences Seriously."

The rabid debates of the late 1990s have returned. According to his defenders, former President Clinton's White House dalliances with Monica Lewinsky were nobody's business but Hillary's. His critics say it was not just about sex -- lying under oath was the issue. Clinton says he did it "just because I could." I say he could because the American people elected him. And sex with an intern in the Oval Office was not a perk we intended him to have.

Re "S. Africa Is Prying Abalone Poachers From Their Prey," July 8: I read with disgust the reported demise of yet another animal species due to the international trade in purported "aphrodisiacs" in the Chinese marketplace. Siberian tigers, American black bears and now South African abalone. The list goes on. Why can't Chinese culture concoct an elixir of a more sustainable nature, such as rat tails or chicken beaks? When these animal populations are exhausted in order to feed this frivolous male obsession with potency, will the Chinese population fall into a downward spiral as well?

They carry AK-47 assault rifles. They once firebombed a marine-conservation patrol boat. When authorities in one small town got tough, they stormed the police station. They have even placed a bounty on a police dog that sniffs packages at the Cape Town airport. What's all the danger about? Narcotics? Diamonds? Armaments?

Poachers hunting the rhinoceros for its so-called aphrodisiac horn have severely reduced the animal's population in West Bengal state, India's Environment Minister Maneka Gandhi said Monday. Only 39 rhinoceroses remain in the eastern state, compared to 88 in 1970, she told Parliament. At least 20 rhinos are killed each year in India. Their horns are removed and sent to Hong Kong or Singapore to be turned into powder and sold as an aphrodisiac.

Re "S. Africa Is Prying Abalone Poachers From Their Prey," July 8: I read with disgust the reported demise of yet another animal species due to the international trade in purported "aphrodisiacs" in the Chinese marketplace. Siberian tigers, American black bears and now South African abalone. The list goes on. Why can't Chinese culture concoct an elixir of a more sustainable nature, such as rat tails or chicken beaks? When these animal populations are exhausted in order to feed this frivolous male obsession with potency, will the Chinese population fall into a downward spiral as well?

Thirty years ago, Vern France abandoned a teaching career after a short but illuminating student-teaching experience. Today, his home north of Gooding sits next to a number of steel-reinforced pens containing 900 bison. How does a man go from visions of spending his life penned in a roomful of young minds to minding pens of bison? Ten years ago, when France was firmly entrenched in his cattle operation north of Gooding, he met Bud Flocchini.

Perhaps since Adam and Eve got booted out of the Garden of Eden, aphrodisiacs have intrigued us. Only recently, however, have research and writings taken aphrodisiacs from the mystical to the medical realm, giving new credence to the notion that lotions and potions can stimulate desire and enhance sexual experiences.